Family ain't always blood
by Ethenae
Summary: Kanani hadn't quite known what a family was, though she's slowly learning that families don't have to be blood
1. chapter 1

I own nothing except my character and the plot

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She opened her eyes to see nothing but darkness. Either way she turned her head it was all she saw. Most people would have been scared to be in such a place. Kanani though, was not like most people.

She actually quite enjoyed the darkness, it was so calm and peaceful.

And safe.

Kanani knew where she was, in a warehouse that had been abandoned years ago. That wasn't what had scared her and led her to hide where she was. No, what scared her was what had _happened_ in the warehouse.

The sound of distant voices drew Kanani out of her thoughts to focus on listening to the voices. From what she could hear, there were two male voices and a female voice. She could hear one of the men's voices and heavy footsteps slowly moving closer. She jumped at the sound of sheet metal scraping against concrete, realizing that someone was pulling at the opening into the dark small room she was in.

It was jerked open a moment later, sunlight flooding in, blinding her momentarily. As soon as she could see, Kanani bolted out past the man that found her and across the catwalk towards the stairs leading down. The man was chasing her, but with the distance there was between them, he wouldn't be able to catch her. Now all she had to do was avoid the other two that were with him. Kanani could hear the man talking into what was probably a mike. Alerting the other two to her presence. Shit.

She assumed that since she couldn't see either of them that they were behind her, and that her best chance at escape was a straight shot to the large doors of the warehouse leading out. Her assumption was promptly proven wrong when one of them stepped out and into her path, causing them to collide and Kanani to fall.

She rolled to break her fall and stood up, watching the man she'd run into warily. He was definitely older, his hair was gray, and he had a concerned, yet empathetic look on his face.

"Pride, are you okay?" Kanani's eyes darted over to the owner of the voice. As her eyes studied the woman, her mind, grateful for a distraction, gnawed on the man's name. Pride. It rang a vague bell in the back of Kanani's mind. Even as her mind continued to puzzle it out, her eyes darted between Pride and the woman who introduced herself as Brody. Kanani took a small half-step back as she noticed Brody moving slightly forward. She was so focused on moving away, keeping an eye on them both, her mind partially distracted with puzzling out the vague familiarity of Pride's name, that she failed to remember that the other man in the group wasn't there, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Instinct kicking in, Kanani spun around raising her arm at the same time, ramming the point of her elbow into his face. Immediately his grip weakened enough for her to move away.

She looked to see the man's nose dripping blood. 'Damn it'. She hadn't wanted to hurt him... but he had scared the everliving shit out of her.. so he might've had it coming. That didn't stop her from wanting to help him though. Remembering that she had some napkins in her pocket, took them out and hesitantly walked toward him.

Stopping a few feet away from him, she held out her hand, offering the napkins to him. He looked at her warily, but she merely stood there waiting for him to take them. "Thank you. I'm Chris LaSalle."

Kanani nodded, tensing as she realised that was her que to introduce herself. 'Houston, we have a problem.' She tried to use her hands to indicate that she wanted something to write on. LaSalle, however, didn't seem to understand what she was trying to communicate. He gave her a confused look. Kanani tried again to communicate using gestures, but he still looked confused. 'I'd hate playing charades with this guy, I'd win to easily.'

At that moment, Pride walked over, looking at both of them. "Everything alright? " LaSalle blew out an exasperated sigh. "It's like she can't speak. That or she just doesn't want to." Kanani glared at LaSalle. Of course she wanted to speak! She just couldn't at the moment. Pride turned to face her.

" You can speak, correct?" Kanani nodded. "Can you speak right now?" Kanani looked down, shaking her head. Pride looked at her a few moments longer. Long enough for Kanani's mind to wander to what had happened in the warehouse.

 _Kyle trying to protect her, him getting hurt in the process and then being killed, Kanani watching the killer hide the gun-_

She flinched away slightly feeling a hand on her arm shaking her from her thoughts. Kanani realised she was moving toward where she knew the gun was. She wondered if these people knew as well, when a beeping noise had her looking over to see Pride looking at his phone.

"Doc Wade has something on the body, you two take her, " he pointed to Kanani, "I want you to take her back to the office and find out what she knows."


	2. Reasons and Revelations

I own nothing, except the plot and my characters

When Pride arrived at the medical examiner's office, he found Lorreta standing at the autopsy table staring at the body. "Sweet Loretta, what do you have for me?"

Loretta sighed, looking up at him. "I have a name for your victim here. Gunnery Sargent Kyle Adelram, shot once in the left leg, nicking the femoral artery. Cause of death, however, was a gunshot to chest, " Loretta stated, looking back down at the body.

"Facial recognition confirm?"

Loretta sighed. "Officially, yes." Pride had the feeling that Loretta knew something he didn't. "And unofficially?" She looked up at him again, a look of grief crossing her face. "Dwayne, I recognized this boy the minute I saw his face." Pride's eyes widened slightly in shock. "You knew him?"

"Yes," Loretta saw the look on his face. "Dwayne Pride, what is it you're trying to tell me?"

"We found a girl in the warehouse where we found him," Pride stated, pointing to the body. Now it was Loretta's turn to look surprised. "A girl? Does she have white hair and green eyes?" Pride showed her a picture of the girl that LaSalle had sent to his phone. Loretta took a glance at it and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you know her?" Loretta nodded. "Her name is Kanani St.Roch, she's 19 years old. Has she told you if she saw something?" Pride sighed, "No. As a matter of fact she hasn't said a word since we found her. LaSalle is almost convinced that she just doesn't want to talk."

Loretta huffed, "It's not that she won't speak, if you found her in that warehouse, then there's a reason for it." Pride's confusion must've been obvious as Loretta continued. "When you found her, what was she like?" Pride thought back to then. "Skittish. Definitely rattled, but not enough that she didn't know what she was doing." Loretta nodded as though completely understanding, but Pride was still baffled. Seeing this she sighed softly, " Anxiety, Dwayne. A highly stressful event happening can trigger it and result in her inability to speak." Pride nodded, finally understanding what Loretta was getting at. Loretta smiled, "I assume she's being kept at the office?" Pride nodded, "LaSalle and Brody are keeping an eye on her."

Kanani felt her anxiety rise again as she paced back and forth. Having at least one, if not _both_ agents watching her wasn't really helping. She wondered how much they knew about what had happened. As Kanani continued to wander about the office, she found a notepad and a pencil. Glancing over, She saw that both agents had their backs turned at the moment, and went up the stairs to the second floor into what looked like a conference room. Kanani sat down in the corner farthest from the door and the glass wall. She took a deep breath and began to sketch what was on her mind.

LaSalle turned from watching the girl they'd found as Brody handed him a cup of coffee. "So what do you think her involvement is in all of this?" Brody questioned. LaSalle shrugged, "Not sure. But I do know that she is probably our only witness." 'Or suspect' the unspoken words were clearly heard between the two of them. He took a sip of his coffee and set it down. "I'm going to see if she's able to talk yet."

LaSalle walked into the room, expecting to see the girl's lithe figure wandering around the room. Instead, he didn't see her at all. 'How in the hell do you lose a kid!?' He thought. Brody joined him in looking a second later, but still had no success in finding her.

"Something wrong?" LaSalle nearly jumped. He and Brody turned to see Loretta standing there holding a container. LaSalle cleared his throat. "Slightly. What're you doing here?"

"Pride told me about the girl you found in the warehouse," Loretta looked slightly amused, "I assume you can't fire her?"

LaSalle looked a little sheepish. Loretta chuckled, " It's alright, she doesn't know you very well yet." Brody decided to speak as Loretta sat the container she was carrying on a desk. "you know her?" Loretta nodded, then turned and called out "Kanani! Kanani come on out here!"

LaSalle wasn't sure what he'd been expecting after Loretta did that. But he sure as hell hadn't expected the blur of white that was Kanani to rush over to Loretta and hug her like she was the only real thing in the world. LaSalle and Brody could only look on in shock as Loretta wrapped her arms around her and whisper soothingly to her.

Loretta pulled back to look Kanani over, making sure that she was okay. "Look at you, all skin and bones, when was the last time you ate?" Kanani looked down, eyes landing on the container on the desk. She looked up, here eyes asking a silent question that Loretta answered with a nod. That was all the permission Kanani. needed to snatch the container and make a beeline for the kitchen to look for something to eat it with.

Brody was curious, she wanted to know just how Kanani and Loretta knew each other. She voiced this thought to said woman. Loretta chuckled, "That is a story for a later time, my dear." LaSalle though, had a different train of thought. "Do you know why she isn't talking to us?" Loretta's face turned somber, "Anxiety." LaSalle was confused was confused for a second, but as he thought about it, he realized that she had been anxious ever since they'd found her in the warehouse. LaSalle opened his mouth to say something, when Pride came down the stairs, holding a notepad in his hand. "Someone care to explain why this," he lifted the hand that held the notepad, "was in the conference room up here?"


	3. reasons reveal thyself

I own nothing but the plot and my oc.

Sorry for taking forever to get this up, rl has been kicking my ass.

xxx

"I was using it." Everyone turned at the murmured reply to see Kanani walking out of the kitchen, container in hand. She walked over to one of the desks, sat down, and started shoveling food in her mouth. LaSalle decided to break the silence.

"You can speak now?" Her mouth full, Kanani nodded. Brody gently interrupted, "Can you tell us why you were in the warehouse?" Kanani tensed, feeling reluctant. Pride decided to speak then.

"You were the only one who saw or heard something.Anything you can tell us might be helpful."

She sighed. "Me and Kyle... We went to the warehouse to meet someone. A man had told me that he had information about my parents." Kanani paused for a moment, allowing LaSalle to speak. "You don't know who your parents?" Kanani sighed as a distant look crossed her eyes.

"Never got the chance," She murmured. Kanani continued her story before he could speak again. "Kyle wouldn't let me meet the guy by myself, so he came with me. When we got there, we couldn't see anyone inside. But then Kyle suddenly got shot and told me to run. So I did. Right to where you found me."

Kanani went quiet after that. Pride decided to ask her one more question. "Did you get a good look at who killed Kyle?" Kanani nodded. "I sketched what he looks like in the notepad." Pride nodded at this and motioned to LaSalle, Brody, and Loretta to join him in the courtyard.

Kanani let her mind wander again and remembered that she needed to go to Gran's and let her and Monster know that she was okay. Noticing that none of the agents attention was on her, she quickly jotted down a note that she'd be back. Then quietly slipped away.

xxx

They were discussing how Kanani's story fit the case, when LaSalle noticed that it was a little too quiet in the other room. As he went back in the room, he immediately noticed the absence of the younger woman. After a moment so did Brody and Pride. Brody went upstairs to see of she was there again and Pride checked the kitchen.

LaSalle crossed the room to his desk and saw a note in what LaSalle assumed was Kanani's hand writing. _Don't worry, will be back soon,_ was all it said. He turned around as Brody and Pride walked back into the room. "She isn't here." LaSalle nodded as he held up the note for them to see. "Well according to this, at least she'll be back soon." Pride's phone beeped and he turned to check it, right as Patton wheeled into the room. " Am I tripping? Or did anyone notice that a petite white haired girl just blew this joint?"

LaSalle let out an exasperated sigh as Brody replied, "Yeah, thats what we were discussing. Do you know which way she went?"

"Yeah, looked like she was heading towards Jackson Square."

Pride walked over just then. "Sebastian and Loretta found something. Brody, you and Patton find what you can on Kanani's parents. LaSalle, I want you to go look for Kanani, see if you can bring her back here and find out more from her."

LaSalle nodded and headed out towards Jackson Square. He slowed down when he caught sight of her long, choppy, white hair. LaSalle saw her go into an alley, bet when he got to it, she wasn't there. He turned to leave when a voice started speaking. "If you wanted to know where I was headed, you could've just asked instead of tailing me for three blocks."

LaSalle turned to see Kanani standing there, wearing an impassive expression. "Well if you hadn't decided to go MIA, I wouldn't have had to." Kanani sighed, the impassive look disappearing. "I left a note, and I had a good reason for leaving." LaSalle lifted an eyebrow, a look of suspicion on his face. "And just what would this reason be?" Kanani's eyes regained the impassive look from moments before. "Follow me if you want to find out."

xxx

"Find anything yet, Patton?" Said computer tech let out a frustrated sigh. Brody's eyebrows went up a little. "Take that as a 'no'?" Patton looked up at her, before looking back at the computer. "Oh no, I found something. It's part of the something that's the problem."

Brody leaned down to look at the computer, her curiosity piqued. "And what is the problem in this something?" Patton's hands skittered across the keyboard in front of him as he spoke. "I found a child services file on Kanani. The problem, though is that nearly all of it is sealed." That wasn't surprising to Brody, but something felt off. "You said that that nearly all of it is sealed, what about the rest of it?"

"The only thing that isn't sealed is Kanani's last know relative's address." Brody sighed. "That's all you can find?" Patton looked up at her. "Without breaking the law, yes." Brody turned to leave. "That's better than nothing. Send the address to my phone, I'll go check it out."

xxx

LaSalle followed Kanani to a large house in the outskirts of New Orleans. His curiosity was piqued, what was her reason for trying to sneak off? Lost in his thoughts LaSalle almost missed the black blur that was speeding toward them.

Instinctively, he reached for his gun. Kanani saw this, and motioned to him to let go of his gun. she then knelt down, tackled seconds later by the black blur. It took a minute for LaSalle to realize what it actually was.

xxx

Thank you to everyone who's followed and reviewed. It does mean a lot to me.


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